Breakdown of وقف الرجل الرياضي على قدمين قويتين.
الal
the
على'ala
on / of (evidence of) / to (lie to someone) / for (difficult for someone)
رجلrajul
man
رياضيriyâdiyy
athletic / athlete
قويqawiyy
strong
قدمqadam
foot
وقفwaqafa
to stand
Questions & Answers about وقف الرجل الرياضي على قدمين قويتين.
Why does 'two feet' end in ـين (قدمين) instead of ـان (قدمان)?
The dual suffix changes depending on the word's role in the sentence. Because 'two feet' comes right after the preposition على (on), it takes the object case (genitive). For dual nouns, that means using the ـين (-ayn) ending instead of the default subject ending ـان (-aan).
I don't see a feminine ending on the word for 'foot' (قدم). Why does its adjective (قويتين) have a 't' in it like a feminine word?
Great catch! In Arabic, body parts that come in pairs (like eyes, hands, and feet) are almost always treated as feminine, even without a visible feminine ending. Because قدم is feminine, its adjective must be feminine too. The singular feminine adjective is قوية (qawiyya). When we add the dual suffix, that tied 'taa' (ـة) opens up into a regular ت (t), giving us قويتين (qawiyyatayn).
Why does the adjective for strong (قويتين) also get the dual ـين ending?
In Arabic, adjectives are strict 'copycats.' They must perfectly match the noun they describe in gender, definiteness, and number. Since the noun is 'two feet' (dual) and comes after a preposition (taking the ـين ending), the adjective copies this exact same dual ending to match.
Why does the sentence start with 'stood' (وقف) instead of 'the man' (الرجل)?
This is the most common sentence structure in Arabic. While English uses Subject-Verb-Object ('The man stood'), Arabic strongly prefers Verb-Subject-Object ('Stood the man'). You could technically say الرجل الرياضي وقف, but starting with the verb is the standard, natural way to state an action.
Why does the word for athletic (الرياضي) have 'the' (الـ) attached to it?
Just like the adjective for 'strong' copied the dual ending later in the sentence, this adjective is copying the definiteness of its noun. The noun is الرجل ('the man'). Because the noun has الـ (al-), the adjective modifying it must also take الـ, even though we just translate it as 'the athletic man' in English, not 'the man the athletic'.
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